Online Romance
by Mus4u
Summary: Two hackers can find all the time, and love, they need through a computer screen. Or at least, fool themselves enough. Follows He Had A Good Teacher and Six Months Too Long. Garcia/Hardison


Penelope knew the moment Alec entered her system, she had been watching for him. She hoped Alec never knew that she waited for him, on baited breath sometimes. She was ashamed of her romance-novel cliche. She chased him around for a while, enjoying his attempts to catch her; another thing she'd never admit. Alec was catching up to her. Fast. It'd go straight to his head.

Penelope laughed softly, boy like that didn't need an ego-boost.

_I'm getting there._ The words flashed on her screen. _I'm going to trick you sooner or later.  
_

_Later, hunny, much later,_ she teased, her smile growing.

_Keep telling yourself that, baby. One of these days. Bam! You wont know what hit you.  
_

_Oh, I'll know. Big-head thinking he's made the world. _She could hear Alec's chuckle at that.

_How you doing, baby?  
_

_I'm good. Pushing through._ She couldn't tell him about the case that had come up yesterday. That she'd been going through the criminal files of serial rapist for over five hours and it didn't seem like it was going to be letting up any time soon.

_You can't even lie through a computer screen._ Even his typed words were heavy. _Two years left._ Penelope sighed, the force of it blowing her bangs off her forehead. Alec was constantly reminding her how much time they had left until their three year rendezvous.

_Yes, I know.  
_

_I don't have to see you to know this job is killing you.  
_

Penelope twirled a piece of hair around her fingers, but she quickly yanked it away. It'd be just like Alec to call her out on that nervous habit... Just to prove his point, no doubt.

_I'll be fine. _And she would, she knew she would. Penelope huffed, God, who was she kidding.

_I love you, Penelope._ Penelope blinked, even just words on a screen and she could feel how much her Alec meant them. _I want to see you smile. Don't let this job take that from you - or me.  
_

_I wont, I promise._ Penelope looked at the time, _I've got to go. The team needs results, and quickly.  
_

She could see in her mind Alec nodding his head reluctantly. _Okay, baby. Till next time?_ She sniffed, so glad that Alec couldn't see her.

_Yeah. And Alec, I love you, too._ Even through the computer screen she knew Alec was smiling.

0o0

Alec couldn't make too much of habit out of seeking his girl out at work. He switched it up, sometimes hacking the FBI, sometimes hacking Penelope. Which, unsurprisingly, was much, much harder. Penelope had firewalls on her firewalls. And booby traps. Lots of booby traps. He fell through the same hole, two times, in two different places.

_God, girl. Paranoid much?  
_

_Can't be too careful. Just be glad I realized it was you. I almost crippled your system.  
_

_Baby?_ He knew his Penelope could be a cautious hacker. Alec had watched her spend two hours hacking something that would have taken him thirty minutes, but unlike Penelope he would have spent ninety minutes doing clean up... He chuckled.

_Not a big deal, sorry. _Alec's body tensed and he cursed the fact that he was 3,000 miles away from her. He should have been right there, able to take her in his arms and hold her tight. Tell her everything would be alright.

_You still can't lie through a computer, so you might as well spill.  
_

_Someone hacked me._ Alec could feel every ounce of frustration those three words brought to Penelope. He could see how she'd be fuming, hectic and frantic. Trying to figure out where they got in._ They hacked me and used it against my team. Personal things. He tried to kill my family._ She was so angry by this point that Alec feared what she was doing to the poor keyboard on the other side._ No one will ever hack me again._ The words, on a screen they may have been, were colder than ice.

_I'm sorry._ And he was. If Alec could have been there, she might not have gotten hacked.

_I hate this dirty, disgusting job. I hate doing these things, I hate having to see the scum of Earth hurt people over and over again. I ha_ - Her words halted and Alec leaned forward.

_Baby?  
_

_Sorry, I shouldn't be unloading this on you. Not when there's nothing you can do about it.  
_

_I wish there was._ Alec swore he could feel her shrug her shoulders._ How did they get in?_ There were several long minutes of blank screen, then, with a cold weight in his belly it sunk in. _You thought it was me._ Alec didn't even need to voice it as a question.

_It's not your fault._ Yeah, Penelope could say that, but it didn't make Alec feel any less guilty._ I shouldn't have been so relaxed, especially at work. I may have been otherwise_ ... _occupied._ Alec wasn't sure what his baby girl meant by that, and he didn't question it.

_Maybe hacking you at work is a bad idea. I wont do it again, promise.  
_

He felt her disappointment. _Yeah, you're probably right.  
_

Alec glanced at the clock, _I'm gonna let you go baby. Damn near three on your coast.  
_

_Yeah_, he knew she sighed. _I'll talk to you later. Love you.  
_

_Love you, too._ Alec ripped the mouse from the computer and tossed it across the room. A satisfied smile spreading his face when it cracked against the wall. Penelope didn't deserve this shit. Two years was too damn long.

o0o

They didn't talk for six months after that. Alec was busy doing shady things for the CIA and Naval Intelligence, and he'd never would have guessed how _many_ shady things the Navy was into. It was the Navy. He learned quickly not to ask too many questions, no matter how much his curios side wanted to. The less he knew the better; he hated thinking about what Penelope would say if she knew what he was doing. But then. It made him sick to his stomach to know what his baby was going through. That same curiosity that made him question his orders, made it impossible not to know what Penelope was doing. And where he could convince himself to zip-lip when he needed to with his superiors... He had to know what she was doing.

He wished he just left it alone.

It felt like things only went from bad to worse after the Fisher King and Elle being shot. Penelope felt like the team she considered her family was unraveling around her. Sometimes it made her think about Alec's plan, and how only a word from her would have her hacker baby shifting around a thousand things from Sunday to have them disappear off the grid. Elle left, Morgan was a ghost of himself after Chicago, Reid... God, everything that had happen to Reid.

Penelope reaching out and finding Alec in the aftermath of Hankel was necessity as much as it was instinct.

_Long time no type, stranger.  
_

_Penelope_, Alec's relief was tangible through cyberspace. _God, Penelope. _She knew, he knew. Everything that had happen to her. And maybe more. Where she wouldn't have dared thought of digging, Alec would have in a heartbeat. If he thought it would endanger her if he didn't know.

_I don't want to talk about it. I want to talk about everything except what has happen.  
_

_The surf is amazing in Hawaii right now._ It was random, and so her Alec that she laughed out loud.

_You're in Hawaii?  
_

_Yeah, I hate it. The weather is, like, too nice and what's the fun without you in a pretty two piece, soaking up all the vitamin D your body can handle.  
_

_Shut up_, she blushed. Alec knew she didn't like two pieces.

_Baby, I wouldn't have you in anything more. So less is all you got to work with._ Penelope rolled her eyes.

_Stop sweet talking me_, she settled on.

_Baby, the only thing I know and love to do is sweet talk you.  
_

_Now you're just teasing.  
_

_You know you want it.  
_

_You have no idea.  
_

It was silent for several minutes. _I could be there in twelve hours_, Alec finally responded. Penelope's heart thumped in her chest.

_No_, it broke her heart but she had to do it. _We can't see each other.  
_

_I know_, God, she hated disappointing talked for hours and before Penelope knew it she was waking up with a crick in her neck, laptop tilted on it's side next to her on the couch. She brushed her finger against the mouse pad and brought it to life.

_You must have fallen asleep on me baby. That's okay. It's been a while since I got to watch you sleep._ Anyone else and she would have felt violated by the idea that Alec had hacked her web-cam and watched. _I want you to know I love you baby, and no matter how hard you try. I'm not letting you talk yourself out of it. Thirty months. A year and a half. Five hundred and Thirty-seven days. You, me and a beach any where of your choosing. I'm never letting you go. Ever again.  
_

Penelope couldn't ignore the tears falling down her cheeks. God, she hoped she could follow him.

* * *

Disclaimer: I do not own these two shows.

Written for ravenspear's prompt left at comment_fic

More to come of this lovely pairing! Stay tuned. Enjoyed?


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